Rugby World Cup 2015: Semifinal Action Set
The Rugby World Cup is heating up, as the remaining four teams prepare for semifinals action. South Africa, New Zealand, Argentina and Australia all secured spots over the weekend, bringing them one step closer to the championship match. This is the first time in World Cup history that the penultimate round will not include a European nation.
South Africa was the first team to advance over the weekend, with a 23-19 win over Wales at London’s Twickenham Stadium. The Springboks have rebounded well, after beginning the tournament with an embarrassing first-round loss to Japan.
While it appeared that Wales was poised to take down South Africa on Saturday — having led for the majority of the second half — in the end Wales could not hold on. A 75th-minute try by Fourie du Preez lifted South Africa past the determined Welsh squad.
The second quarterfinal match, between New Zealand and France, proved to be much less competitive. New Zealand dominated to match, eventually winning by a score of 62-12. Julian Savea played an amazing game, finishing with three tries, including one in the 38th minute where he crushed the French defenders.
Argentina, arguably the most surprising team to reach semifinal play, took down Ireland on Sunday morning by a score of 43 to 20. Ireland played great during pool play, outscoring opponents 134 to 35, but struggled against Argentina without star flyhalf Johnny Sexton.
The last semifinals spot was taken by Australia, after knocking off Scotland 35-34 in the most intense match of the tournament thus far. It appeared that Scotland was going to pull of the upset after Mark Bennett intercepted a pass in the 75th minute and took it in for the go-ahead try. But a controversial call with 5 minutes left in the match on a Scottish lineout gave the Wallabies a penalty kick in Scotland’s end. Bernard Foley was able to capitalize on the kick to give Australia the stunning win.
South Africa will face the defending champion New Zealand on Saturday, which will be broadcast on NBC at 11 a.m ET. Argentina will match up against Australia on Sunday.
0 Comments